Steam plant



I H M n .E1 M ,LH

NY'N lo Sept. 29l 1925. 1,555,465

G. FORMER.

STEAM PLANT A Fi1ed`Ju-1y l. 1924v Patented Sept. 29, 1925.

,UNITED )STATES 1,555,465' P'TENT OFFICE.

GEORG FORNER, or BERLIN, GERMANY, AssIoNoB ro A/B vAPORacxUMULA'rOn, or f l NEW YORK; N. Y., A CORPORATION OF SWEDEN.

STEAM PLANT.

Application led July '1,

more particularly to steam plants equipped.

with steam accumulators and with motors -from which steam is withdrawn for use in low pressure'consumers, for industrial purposes, such as heating, bleaching and dyeing. Such motors are Ordinarilyextraction turbines and non-condensing turbines.

y The object of my invention is to provide a plant having higher efliciency previously been possible.

The disadvantages of previous plants which are overcome by this invention are as follows. ln plants where the motor and accumulator are connected in parallel, a great amount of steam passes parallel to the motor or stages of the motor without producing work. There is therefore a great drop of pressure which is entirely lost as tar as the 'generation of power is concerned. ln plants where the motor and accumulator are connected in series the motor chamber from which steam is withdrawn to be led to the low pressure consumers has been connected with the accumulator in one of two ways, first, in'such a manner that the pressure in the accumulator and the said chamber is the same and second, in such a manner that the extraction pressure is always higher than the accumulator pressure. ln the tirst case the motor stages near the point where the steam is withdrawn work permanently under the widely varying pressures iprevalent in the accumulator thus impairing considerably the etticiency of the motor and a very great drop of pressure exists between the point oi' extraction of the motor and the low pressure conduits, this drop ot pressure being lost for the purposes of power genera tion. ln the second case there is a pressure drop between the motor and the accumula tor as well as between the accurnuiator and than has 1924. Serial No. 723,549.

the low pressure conduits which is entirely lost for purposes of power generation.

By means of the present inventionv a greateramount of work is done by the steam in passing from the boilers to the low pres-- sure consumers than with these previous arrangements. Normally all the steam passes through motors and the'eXtractiOn pressure, Aat times of discharge of the accumulator, is substantially the same as the pressure in the lo`w pressure conduits although the accumulator pressure may be considerably higher and, at times of charge of the accumulator the extraction pressure is substantially the same as the pressure in the accumulator. Thus there is a greater drop of pressure which can be utilizedv in the motor between the supply to the motor and the extraction pointl and the eiiiciency of the motor and consequently of the plant can be increased.

The invention is best understood by reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

i Fig. l is a more or less diagrammatic ilone or more boilers, which may be of any.

type and tired in any way. Steam generated in the boilers is conducted by means of high pressure conduit 4 to the turbine 5. rllhe steam idowing into the turbine is controlled by overow valve 6 arranged adjacent the steam chest 7 Oi the turbine. lThis overflow valve 6 is operated in response tothe pressure in iront of the same, that is, the pressure in the high pressure conduit 4. n the illustration pressure acts through conduit 9 on the lower side of piston 8 attached to the valve stem ci"l the Overiow valve. 0n the other side of the piston 8 is a spring l0 which opposes the steam pressure. The valve Operates to increase the iow to the turbine upon rise of pressure in front oit the had same and, conversely, to decrease the dow to the motor upon decrease oit the actuating pressure. lt is to be understood that the valve .illustrated is merely by way of example and that any valve may be used which will perform the same itunction, many such valves being well known. This overflow valve operates to maintain a constant pressure in the boilers, thereby maintaining high boiler efliciency.

y 11 indicates the wheel of the high pressure stages of the turbine and 12 the stationary blades to direct the steam to the second stage of the wheel. indicates a chamber ofthe turbine situated between stages. 13 indicates the extraction port of the turbine, through which bleeder steam is supplied to the low pressure consumers from chamber 15. 14 indicates an intermediatefstage of the turbine operating at lower pressure than the pressure in chamber 15. The steam in the turbine separates in the chamber 15,

passing partly through port 13, and partly `to the lower pressure stages including 14,

the latter steam passing eventually into a condenser indicated at 16. .The steam passing to the condenser is controlled by means of valve 17, operatively connected lto piston 21 and operated in response to the speed .of the turbine by means of governor 19. The governor and valve 17 may be of any desired construction so long as its operation is such that upon increase of speed or the turbine, valve 17 decreases the flow from the supply chamber to the lower pressure stages of the turbine, and, conversely, increases the iow upon decrease of speed, so that a uniform speed is maintained. 4By way of example I have shown valve 17 operated by means of a servomotor 18, in turn controlled by a pilot valve 20. The servomotor comprises a piston 21 actuated on the lower side by liquid pressure and acted upon by a spring 22 on the upper side. Liquid is admitted or discharged rom the lower side of piston 21 through pipe 23 and is controlled by pilot valve 20. When the speed of the turbine increases governor 19 moves the pilot valve through lever 24 to connect the lower side of the iston 21 with a discharge pipe 25, thus al owing spring 22 to move the valve 17 toward closing position. Conversely when the speed of the turbine decreases the loweil` side or pispon 21 isdconnacted with a supp y p' 26 or liqui un er pressure, thus openliiieg valve 17. l have shown diagramm'atioally a wayin which the turbine may be 'controlled but it will be obvious to those versed in the art that many other means of controlling the flow of steam through the turbine may be employed without depart-ing from the spirit of this invention.

The turbine is shown as driving an electric generator 27.

Leashes Connected to the extraction port. 13 is the extraction condui 28. The steam passingv through this extraction conduit may pass to the accumulator 29 by means of conduit 30, wht/ch, for purposes or description, l will termi accumulator charge conduit; or, may pass'by means of conduit 31 to the low pressure conduit 32. From conduit 32 low pressuresteam is supplied to low press sure consumers 33 which may be of any of valve mechanism, preferably a reducing valve indicated at 35. This valve mechanism is responsive to the ressure in conduit 31 and consequently in low pressure conduit 32 and operates to increase the flow therethrough 'upon Adrop of pressure and to decrease the flow therethrough upon increase of pressure. This valve operates to maintain a substantially constant pressure in the low pressure conduit. In the form shown, a plston 36 is acted vupon by the pressure o f the low pressure conduit on one side by means of conduit 37 and a spring 38 acts on the other side. This piston is attached to the valve stem of the valve.

Conduit 39 which I term accumulator discharge conduit connects the steam space of the accumulator with low pressure conduit 32 at a. point beyond reducing valve 35, that between reducing valve 35 and the low pressure consumers. Flow through this accumulator discharge conduit is also controlled by automatic valve mechanism,.pref erably a reducing valve 40. This valve 40 operates in the same manner as valve 35, but is set to open atI a value of pressure lower than that at which valve 35 opens, so that upon decreasing pressure in the low pressure conduit valve 35 opens first and' valve 40 opens after valve 35 is wide open. Conduits 41 and 42 connect high ressure conduit 4 with a conduit in the con uit system of the plant carrying a relativel low pressure.- This connection is in para lel to the high pressure section of the steam motor 5. In the conduit 41 is inserted an overflow valve 43 operating in similar manner to overow valve 6. The purpose of these parts 41 and 43 is to conduct steam from the high pressure conduit 4 to the low pressure parts of the conduit system when there is a surplus of steam generated which cannot be taken care of by the motor. Valve ics ilo

43 is set to open'at a higher pressure lthan that at which yvalve 6 opens'. Valve 43 is normally closed and the regulation of steam from the boiler s controlled b valve 6. If valve 6 becomnslwide openan there is still a surplus of steam in conduit 4, valve 43 opens and allows this excess to pass to the accumulator or the low pressure consumers. In Vthe conduit 42 is'inserted a reducing valve 44. The purpose of this valve is to allow steam to pass from the high pressure conduit 4to the low pressure part of the conduit system when the state of charge of the accumulator had .reached an undesirably low value. This valve 44 is set to open at the pressure corresponding to discharge of.

the accumulator. This is in effect a safety element which guards against a complete -sure somewhat in the boilersand the high pressure conduits connected therewith than to cut off steam from valuable process batches. In such a contingency the boilers, must, of course, be more intensively lired. In practice one pipe takes the place of conduits 41 and 42 and one valve, operated both in response toY pressure before and behind the same, takes the place of valves 43 and 44.

In operation; suppose thatvvalve is closed and valve 35 is partly open. Now suppose there is a surplus of steam passing through extraction conduit 28 over the consumption of the low pressure consumers. .The pressure in" the extraction conduit builds up untilit opens check valve 34, thus ,al-towing the surplus of steam to pass into theY accumulator. ltroisY the relative dow of steam to the ac- The valve 35 then concumulator and to the low pressure consumers. Under this condition, as is obvious, the pressure in the chamber 15 must be slightly higher than the pressure in the accumulator and varies as the accumulator pressure varies.

Suppose the pressure in conduit 32 falls due either to increased consumption in the low pressure consumers or decreased s'uppiy from the turbine, and at the same time tion conduit reduces`to the pressurein conduits 31 and 32. At this time valve 40 opens 'and steam is supplied from the accumulator to the low pressure consumers to make up for the deficiency. D'uring this period of discharge of the accumulator, it will be seen that the vpressure in the extraction conduit of the motor is constant and substantially the same as the pressure in the low mulator.

The difference in the values of pressure atwhich the two valves 35 and 40 are set toopen is lvery small so that there is substantially no .difference in pressure in the low pressure conduit whether the supply f so -thegradually changing pressure of the accuthereto comes entirelyV from the motor, en-

tirely from the accumulator or from both.

Suppose, now, that the pressurein conduit 32 increases d'ue, forl example, to decreased consumption. The rising pressure then first closes valve 40. Upon further rise in pressure valve 35 `closes more or less and throttles the iow of steam therethrough. This f allow the excess steam to pass into the accumulator, as above described. It is believed that the operation of the other elements of the plant will be readily understood from the above description.

Fig.- II shows a'plant similar to that of Fig. lf except that, in place of the extraction turbine 5, a non-condensing turbine 45 is used. This turbine drives an electric generator 46 coupled in parallel into the electric circuit 47.` This connection with the circuit is of' such a nature that all the power of 'turbine 45 can be transferred into electrical energy in the circuit 47, regardless of the variations of power supplied by turbine 45. ln Figure Il the motor chamber is not between stages as was the case in Figure it `but is the space of lowest pressure Vin the motor, from which the steam passes to the ressure line. The mode of operation' back of this plant will be readily understood from the description of the plant according to 1Fig. T and its operation.

Fig. Hl shows a combined valve which may be used in place of vvalves 35V and 46. This valve is placed at the jointure of con duits 3l, 32 and 39. In the valve casing 48 is a chamber 49 connected to conduit 32. A chamber 50 is connected to the conduit 3-lfand has ports 51 communicating with chamber 49. These ports are controlled by valve members 52 constituting a balanced valve. vValve members 52 are tirmiy connected to rod 53. A chamber 54 is connected to the'conduit 39 and has ports 55 therein,

controlled by valve members 56, constituting ra second balanced valve.

Valve members 56 are connected by a sleeve which loosely encloses the rod 53. -@n the rod 53 is a stop 57 which is adapted to engage one of the valve members 56 to move the same when the pressure in conduit 32 drops below a predetermined value. Spring 58 serves to retain valve members 56 against their seats. Rod 53 is attached to bellows diaphragm 59. This bellows diaphragm is sub]ected to the pressure in chamber 49, which is the same as the pressure in conduit 32. rIhe force of the pressure acting on the bellows diaphragm is opposed by spring 60 which is adjustable by means of set screw 61. Stop 57 is adjustable on rod 53.

This valve takes the place of the two valves 35 and 40 and operates in the same manner. With valve members 51 and 56 seated and a decreasing pressure in conduit the upper valve disc 56 and opens ports 55.

As is obvious this valve is, in effect two reducing valves combined in a single casing.

I consider that my invention resides primarily in the broad aspects hereinbefore set -forth and only secondarily in the details of construction and arrangement wherefore I do not restrict myself to the particular con-v structions here disclosed, but only .by the terms of the claims and the state of the prior art.

Having vthus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In combination, a steam chamber, means to supply steam thereto, an accumu lator, a low pressure conduit normally carrying steam of lower pressure than the accumlator pressure, a consumer connected to said low pressure conduit, means to conduct steam from said chamber to said accumulator and maintain substantially the same pressure in said chamber and in said accumulator when the accumulator is charged, and means to conduct steam from said cha'mber to said low pressure conduit and maintain substantially the same pressure in said chamber and said low pressure conduit when said accumulator discharges regardless of gher pressure prevailing in the accumuator.

2. In a steam plant, asteam generator, a steam chamber, means to conduct steam from the steam generator to the chamber, a steam accumulator, a steam consumer, a conduit connectin the accumulator with the consumer and a apted to conduct steam from the accumulator to the consumer, automatic valve mechanism operated by the pressure behind the same inserted in said connatascia duit, a connection between said chamber and said conduit at a point between said valve mechanism and said consumer, means to allow passage of steam from saidchamber to said accumulator with substantially the same pressure in said chamber and said accumulator and means to control passage of steam from .the chamber to the consumer.

3. In a steam plant, a steam generator, a steam motor, means to conduct steam from the generator to the steamv motor, a chamber in said motor, a steam accumulator, a low pressure conduit, a steam consumer adapted to receive steam from the low pressure conduit, means to conduct steam from the chamber to the low pressure conduit, means to conduct steam from the chamber to the accumulator, means to conduct steam from the accumulator to the low pressure conduit` and automatic means to maintain the pres' sure in the chamber of the motor constant and substantially the same as the pressure in the low pressure conduit during the discharge period of the accumulator regardless of hlgher pressure prevailing in the accumulator. l

4. In a steam plant, a steam generator, a steam motor, means to conduct steam from the steam generator to the motor, a chamber in said motor, a steam accumulator, a low pressure conduit, a steam consumer adapted to receive lsteam from said low pressure conduit, means to conduct steam from the chamber to the low pressure conduit, means to effect communication between the chamberand the accumulator when the pressure in the chamber exceeds the pressure in the 'I accumulator due to surplus steam supply over momentary consumption and -to reduce the pressure in the chamber to substantially that of the low ressure conduit when the accumulator disc arges due to greater con-- sumption than supply.

5. In a steam plant, a steam generator, a steam motor, means to conduct steam from the steam generator to the steam motor, a steam accumulator, a steam consumer, means to conduct steam from the motor to the consumer, a reducing valve therein con-4 trolled by the pressure immediately behind the same, means to conduct steam from the motor to the accumulator, a check valve therein, means to conduct steam from the accumulator to the consumer, a reducing valve therein.

6. In a steam plant, a steam generator, a steam motor comprising a plurality of sections, means to conduct steam from the in the accumulator charge conduit, an accusmulator discharge conduit extending from..

the accumulator to the connecting conduit at a point between the reducingvvalve and the consumer, and a second reducing valve in the accumulator discharge conduit. 7. In a steam plant, a steam generator, a

` steam motor comprising a plurality of sec- V tions, means to conduct steam. from the steam generator to the steam motor, a chambei' between two of said sections, an'extraetion conduit connected to said chamber,a y

' ysteam motor comprising a plurality of seccommunication between the two sections,

s eed responsive meansv ,to control flow t rough said communication, Aa steamv accu-l mulator, a steam consumer, a steam conduit.-V

-t1on' between said two sections, speed reconnecting the accumulatorwith the `consumer and adaptedI to conduct steam from l the accumulator to the consumer, automatic valve mechanism operated by the pressurebehind the same inserted in said steam con-v duit, a connection extending between said extraction conduit and-said steam conduit and connected to said steam conduit at a point between said valve mechanism and said consumer, means to allow passage of steam from the chamber to the accumulator with substantially the same pressure in said chamber and said accumulator and means'to control passage of steam from the motor to the consumer.

8. In a steam plant, ya steam generator, a steam motor comprising a plurality of sections, means to conduct steam from the steam generator to the steam motor, a chamber between twol of said sections, an extraction conduitconnected to said chamber, a communication between the two sections, speed responsive' means to control flow through said communication, a steam accumulator, a steam consumer, means to conl duct steam from the extraction conduit to the accumulator, means to conductsteam 'from 4the extraction conduit tothe consumer,

means to conduct steam from the accumulatoi,` to the consumer, a check valve to control flow of steam from the extraction conduit to the accumulator, a reducing valve to control flow of steam from the extraction conduit tothe .consumer controlled by pressure ,immediately behind the same and a --reducing valve to control flow of steam from the accumulator to the consumer.

*9. In a steam plant, a steam generator, a

tions, means tov conduct steam from the steam generator -to the motor, .a chamber between two of saidsections, a communicalfrom the accumulator to the low pressure conduit and automatic means to maintain the pressure in the chamber of the motor constant and substantially the same as the pressure in the low pressure conduit during the discharge period of the accumulator regardless of higher pressure prevailing in t-he accumulator.

In testimony whereof I hereunto atlix my signature.

GEORG FORNER. 

